LaBelle testifies at bodyguard's assault trial

Updated 12:40 am, Friday, November 8, 2013

Legendary soul singer Patti LaBelle said bodyguard Efrem Holmes sprung into action after her 37-year-old son was punched by Richard King. (Mayra Beltran/Chronicle)

Legendary soul singer Patti LaBelle said bodyguard Efrem Holmes sprung into action after her 37-year-old son was punched by Richard King. (Mayra Beltran/Chronicle)

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Media surround LaBelle as she leaves the courtroom.

Media surround LaBelle as she leaves the courtroom.

Photo: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle

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There's a civil lawsuit against Holmes, LaBelle and others for more than $1 million for the alleged attack.

There's a civil lawsuit against Holmes, LaBelle and others for more than $1 million for the alleged attack.

Photo: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle

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R&B singer Patti LaBelle walks out of the courtroom after testifying on the witness stand at the Harris County Criminal Courthouse for the lawsuit against her bodyguards on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2013, in Houston.

PATTY: Patti LaBelle in 2010 in New York City. She is remembered in Houston for a 2011 incident at Bush Intercontinental Airport in which her body guards got into an altercation with a traveler. (Stephen Lovekin / Getty Images)

PATTY: Patti LaBelle in 2010 in New York City. She is remembered in Houston for a 2011 incident at Bush Intercontinental Airport in which her body guards got into an altercation with a traveler. (Stephen

Patti LaBelle at the 1992 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. (Bayou City History / Ben DeSoto : Chronicle file)

Patti LaBelle at the 1992 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. (Bayou City History / Ben DeSoto : Chronicle file)

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GETTY IMAGES DIVA: Patti LaBelle had no comment on the new lawsuit.

GETTY IMAGES DIVA: Patti LaBelle had no comment on the new lawsuit.

Photo: David Livingston

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FILE - In this Tuesday, May 17, 2011 file picture, Patti LaBelle performs during a taping of "Surprise Oprah! A Farewell Spectacular," in Chicago. West Point cadet Richard King is suing LaBelle, accusing her of ordering her bodyguards to beat him up outside a Houston airport terminal on March 11, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

FILE - In this Tuesday, May 17, 2011 file picture, Patti LaBelle performs during a taping of "Surprise Oprah! A Farewell Spectacular," in Chicago. West Point cadet Richard King is suing LaBelle, accusing her of

FILE - In this Feb. 9, 2011 file photo, singer Patti Labelle attends The Heart Truth's Red Dress fashion show at Lincoln Center in New York. The U.S. Military Academy says a cadet who is suing R&B diva Patti LaBelle over a scrape at a Houston airport has left the academy at West Point. A West Point spokeswoman says Richard King left the academy Monday, June 6, 2011. The academy acknowledges it investigated the March 11 incident. King says he was in his hometown airport standing near LaBelle?s luggage when three of her bodyguards attacked him. In court papers, he says LaBelle thought he was standing too close to her bags. (AP Photo/Peter Kramer, file)

FILE - In this Feb. 9, 2011 file photo, singer Patti Labelle attends The Heart Truth's Red Dress fashion show at Lincoln Center in New York. The U.S. Military Academy says a cadet who is suing R&B diva

She and her bodyguards are being sued over an altercation at Bush airport, but that doesn't stop Patti LaBelle from taking the stage.

She and her bodyguards are being sued over an altercation at Bush airport, but that doesn't stop Patti LaBelle from taking the stage.

Photo: Kevin Winter, Getty

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Richard King, a West Point cadet from the Houston area, is suing R&B star Patti LaBelle.

Richard King, a West Point cadet from the Houston area, is suing R&B star Patti LaBelle.

Photo: Getty Images

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R&B singer Patti LaBelle is a witness at the Harris County Criminal Courthouse in a lawsuit accusing her bodyguard of beating a West Point cadet who was waiting for a ride at Bush Intercontinental in 2011.

R&B singer Patti LaBelle is a witness at the Harris County Criminal Courthouse in a lawsuit accusing her bodyguard of beating a West Point cadet who was waiting for a ride at Bush Intercontinental in 2011.

Photo: Mayra Beltran, Staff

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Efram Holmes' attorneys say he was a "gentle bear," trying to protect his clients.

Efram Holmes' attorneys say he was a "gentle bear," trying to protect his clients.

Photo: Mayra Beltran, Staff

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LaBelle testifies at bodyguard's assault trial

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Legendary R&B diva Patti LaBelle took the witness stand in a Harris County courtroom Thursday to defend the man who has defended her for the past 11 years.

"He's cuddly. Very nice. Very gentle," the 69-year-old singer testified about her bodyguard, Efrem Holmes, who is on trial on misdemeanor charges of assault, accused of punching a 23-year-old West Point student at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport in 2011.

'He started everything'

LaBelle told jurors that Richard King staggered up to the limousine she was waiting in as her son, who works as her manager, loaded luggage into an SUV. The group had just arrived in Houston and was going to a performance at a casino in Louisiana.

The singer testified that King jiggled the door handles to try to get in her limo, called her a "bitch," and when confronted by her son, punched him.

It was then that Holmes hit King, according to LaBelle.

"Nobody was trying to hit that kid," LaBelle said. "He started everything."

Earlier in the day, King repeatedly told prosecutors and defense attorneys he could not remember any of an 8-minute-long incident partially captured on surveillance video.

"I don't remember," was King's oft-repeated refrain on the stand.

The 26-year-old is at the center of a criminal complaint against Holmes, 45, and a civil lawsuit against Holmes, LaBelle and others for more than $1 million for the alleged attack.

King, then a senior at West Point, had flown in to see his family for spring break and had been drinking before, during and after his flight

Tests showed that he had a blood alcohol level of .28 percent, three and a half times the legal limit of .08 perent for driving.

He said Thursday he was not counting drinks because he was being picked up at the airport.

Bodyguard weighs 350

Although King remembered little, prosecutors are relying on surveillance video they say shows King being chest-bumped by LaBelle's son, Zuri Edwards. Then, according to prosecutors, Holmes punched King three times in the face before LaBelle's hairdresser got between the two men and hit King.

King testified he is 5 foot 11 and weighs 180 pounds. LaBelle estimated that Holmes, who dwarfs King in height, weighs at least 350.

During a contentious cross-examination from Assistant Harris County District Attorney Kaylynn Williford, LaBelle said King scared her and that he was "constantly cussing."

Prosecutors, who conceded in opening statements Tuesday that King was intoxicated, are trying to convince jurors that it was an unjustified attack. It happened, they say, because King was milling around LaBelle's limousine while talking on his cell phone, trying to find his ride.

Holmes' attorneys are working to paint Holmes as a "gentle bear," who was trying to protect his clients.

4 drinks on the flight

They also said King was obviously drunk and trying to open the limousine door before words came to blows.

"You didn't want people to know you were intoxicated, is that right," said Paul Doyle, an attorney for the bodyguard.

"Yes," King said.

Thursday in court, he said he had at least four drinks on the flight.

Prosecutors wrapped up their side of the case Thursday in the trial in County Court at Law Judge Don Smyth's court. The trial is expected to continue Friday.

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